Personalized conference bridge

Abstract

The present invention allows a user to customize her personal conference bridge such that conference participants who connect to the bridge are provided conference information selected by the user. In particular, after each conference participant gains access to the personal conference bridge, the conference information is delivered to a terminal of the conference participant. Although the user associated with the personal conference bridge may be a conference participant, delivery of conference information to the user is optional. The conference information may be any type of media content, or information identifying the location of media content to present to the conference participants.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to personal conference bridges, and in particular to allowing a user to customize their personal conference bridge such that conference participants who connect to the bridge are provided conference information selected by the user.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Conference bridges are used to facilitate conference calls between two or more conference participants. In operation, multiple calls from multiple communication terminals are terminated at a conference bridge. In simpler conference bridges, the audio signals from each of the communication terminals are mixed together and provided back to each of the communication terminals. In more advanced conference bridges, the audio levels for the audio signals from the different communication devices are monitored and used to identify one or more of the audio signals to provide as an output to the communication devices. In general, the communication terminal or terminals provid...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention allows a user to customize a conference bridge so that conference participants can receive information selected by the user. The conference information can include any type of media content, such as text, graphics, image, voice, audio, or video content. The media content can be static or dynamic, depending on the capabilities of the conference bridge and the conference participant terminals. The technical effect of this invention is to provide a more personalized and relevant conference experience for users."

Problems solved by technology

Accessing the wrong personal conference bridge may lead to interrupting another conference or waiting indefinitely for the other conference participants to join in the conference.

In many instances, conference participants are not actually joined into the conference until the host or chairperson has joined; therefore, such waiting may not provide an indication of the error.

As such, these announcements provide little or no warning to those conference participants who access the wrong personal conference bridge.

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